Something that has been brought up a great number of times from the Japanese, is the importance of the western consumer to the videogame industry. More importantly, Europe is highlighted as the chief factor for this generation and possibly future generations of videogames.
Out of all the Japanese videogame makers, Square-Enix is the most vocal of them all.
"Each country in Europe can be different in two things. Firstly, cultural background: for example in France, Japanese animation and manga are very popular, therefore they have a cultural background where overtly Japanese character design is highly appreciated," Yoichi Wada, Square Enix president comments.
"Secondly, we have to consider their views on technology in general: how the people of a particular country regard networked systems, and if they’re prepared to look at it as a means of fun."
Furthermore, he comments about the competition that they will have to face from other Japanese companies to secure a solid stronghold in the west [Europe].
"We would like to develop a strategy to equal the moves made by Sega and Capcom, or maybe exceed them," he said.
"Mergers and acquisitions is not necessarily our main method, but obviously it has to be deemed as one of the main strategy options. If we were to look for a place in the top three in the global games industry, obviously we would have to consider it seriously."
Now, while Japan may see this as a huge benefit for them, how would this translate over for the Europeans, or even North Americans because it does work both ways. If Square-Enix pursues this, it could possibly mean that a few RPGs will be released with a more of a western taste besides the anime style presentation that people know from Japanese RPGs. Who knows, companies such as Sega, Square-Enix, and Capcom could try to indulge the western audience by creating a sandbox shooter to compete with the Rockstar heavy hitter, Grand Theft Auto franchise.
The possibilities are endless; let us just see where this goes.